By Jubin Katiraie
Female political prisoners in Ahvaz’s Sepidar Prison are being insulted, harassed, brutalized, and tortured by prison authorities and dangerous inmates that are incited.
This is a common practice by the regime, intended to terrorize the prisoners and create an atmosphere of fear in the society.
The vast majority were tortured under interrogation, even though some of them were pregnant at the time. To make matters worse, in violation of international and even the regime’s own law, the prisoners are not separated by their crimes, which means that political prisoners are kept amongst violent offenders.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) provided a partial list of the imprisoned women and what happened to them.
- Elaheh Darvishi, 20, was arrested at 18 when she was pregnant. She gave birth in prison.
- Mahnaz Amouri Faissali, 38, who married with a 10-year-old son. She tried to hide her 15-year-old niece, Maedeh Sha’abani Nejad, from Intelligence Department agents who wanted to arrest her.
- Maryam Zobaidi, 53, who is married with four children, was arrested in March 2018 along with two of her sons in the Zeitun district of Ahvaz. Her son Benjamin Albu Ghabish, was killed under torture in June 2019
- Maryam Hemadi, 28, who is married with two children
- Her mother Fatemeh Tonitzadeh was arrested in October 2018
- Gheisiyeh Afrawi, 60, was arrested in October 2018, from Albu Afri village in Susangerd
- Zoveydeh Afrawi, 55, was arrested at the same time
- Zeinab Afrawi, who was arrested on September 21, 2018
- Massoumeh Sa’eidawi, 48
- Makkiyeh Neissi, 35, who is married with three children
- Nejat Anvar Hamidi, 62, was arrested in 2017 and sentenced in 2019 to 5 years in prison for supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Since then, she has been suffering from acute eye problems and might lose her eyesight, and she has caught the coronavirus. She was previously imprisoned in 1981 for 2 years and 4 months.
- Sussan Sa’eidawi, 45
- Sakineh Segour, 35, who is married with two children, was interrogated while pregnant. She gave birth in shackles and handcuffs, while covered in blood
In related news, political prisoner Fatemeh Mosanna was taken to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran on August 19, after falling unconscious in Evin Prison and previously having coronavirus symptoms.
She has been cuffed and shackled to the bed ever since, on the orders of special prosecutor Amin Vaziri, as well as denied visits from her children.
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